Let’s
face it, good procurement talent is at times hard to define, let alone find. Each company
has a unique set of requirements and expectations for what is considered a
qualified candidate for supply management roles. And, while some positions may require an
emphasis on technical skills, others may more heavily rely on soft skills, like
people management. In today’s supply management talent market, finding the
right talent is more difficult than ever. As the role procurement serves in an
organization has transformed over the years, so have the job functions of
individuals in procurement departments. Well-qualified candidates are often
hard to find and passive (meaning, not necessarily actively searching),
creating a greater demand for companies to seek alternative ways to source
their talent.

Resource
and time constraints often mean that searching for talent on typical job forums
are cutting it when it comes to reaching top talent, creating a new trend of
companies partnering with staffing and consulting firms to meet their procurement staffing
demands. In the first part of Source One’s Recruiting Insider Series, now
available on iTunes, Source One’s Business Development Manager, Ken Gaul
discusses the client demand for meaningful partnerships for attracting and retaining top talent.

Gaul
shares insights into what Source One client’s are asking for when it comes to supply chain and procurement staffing
support: “For us, it’s not just about business process outsourcing, or simply
taking something off our client’s shoulders. Certainly, that is one of the
effects of someone hiring us, but it is not the end vision. What our clients
really want is a partner who can elevate their operations, elevate their
processes and produce sustainable results, all without the demands of hiring full
time resources themselves.”

The podcast’s inaugural guest,
Naseem Malik, Managing Partner of MRA Global Sourcing, adds that attracting and
retaining top talent begins by clearly understanding the organization’s needs,
including knowing what “good” talent means to the company in terms of balancing
aspects of both technical and hard skills,
as well as being a cultural fit.

For insights into the state of procurement recruiting,
listen to Part I of the Supply Management Recruiting Podcast Series now on available
on the Source One Podcast Network. Stay tuned to the Podcast Network for the follow
up sessions to the series, providing insights in to what sets the most
successful candidates apart from the competition and more.

Strategic Sourceror

StrategicSourceror.com is a leading industry blog that focuses on providing news, tips, and best practices for a variety of procurement, supply chain, and strategic sourcing categories.

This site is owned and operated by Source One Management Services, LLC; the leading consultancy providing strategic sourcing resources, procurement advisory consulting and procurement support services to hundreds of companies.

Continue to visit StrategicSourceror for your supply chain and procurement news and to see the latest tips, advise, and rants from the analysts, consultants, and category managers from Source One.

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About Source One

Source One is a leading procurement services provider. Since 1992, Source One has been providing companies in all industries with sourcing services including BPO, Benchmarking, Spend Analysis, Category Support, and RFX Management.